Zeeshan AhmadShujaul Mulk Khan

Weed species distributionpattern in maize crop of

Mardan, Pakistan

Weeds are unwanted plant species growing in the domesticated crops. Likeother crops maize also faces the problem of competition with weeds.Severe loses in yield up to 70% of maize have been reported in small scalefarming due to weeds. Composition and abundance of weeds is influencedby a number of environmental variables as well as farming practices in anecosystem. Present study was formulated to measure the effect ofenvironmental variables on weed species composition, abundance,distribution pattern and formation of various weeds communities in DistrictMardan, Pakistan. Phytosociological attributes such as density, frequency,relative density, relative frequency and Importance Values were measuredfor each field.Presence absence data of 29 species and 65 fields wereanalyzed using Cluster and Two Way Cluster Analyses via PC-ORD version 5that resulted in four major weed communities. CANOCO software version4.5 was used to evaluate the environmental gradients of weeds throughCanonical Correspondence Analyses (CCA). Results showed that among allenvironmental variables the strongest variables were CaCO3, highphosphorous concentration, and higher electric conductivity.

Book authors are; 1. Mr Zeeshan Ahmad MPhil Scholar and 2. Dr ShujaulMulk Khan Assistant Professor, from Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad

978-3-659-96215-8